India gets its first sign language dictionary

Country's first-of-its-kind dictionary, which aims to bring uniformity in sign languages used by hearing and speech impaired people across the nation, was released on Thursday.

The Indian Sign Language (ISL) dictionary, which has been developed by the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), comprises 3,000 Hindi and English words and their corresponding graphic representation of the signs which are used in daily life.

The dictionary is available both in print and video format.

"The basic aim of developing the ISL Dictionary is to remove communication barriers between the deaf and hearing impaired communities as it is focused on providing more information in Indian sign language," Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot said at the release of the dictionary.

He said that soon many new words will be added in the dictionary and hoped that more and more people will use this dictionary and get the benefit of learning Indian Sign language.

The dictionary contains graphic representations of popular signs used by the hearing impaired and also includes regional variations.

"It will also enable government officials, teachers, professionals, community leaders and the public at large to learn and use sign language," a senior ministry official said.

As per the census 2011, there are 50,71,007 deaf and 19,98,535 people with speech disability in India.

Around 300 dictionaries were distributed today. The DVD of the dictionary will also be uploaded on the ministry's website and people can procure it from ISLRTC too.

ISLRTC has been working on this ambitious project for the last one-and-half years.